Luvtlee

This last weekend was such a good one!  Saturday morning my 12 year old son and I got up bright and early and packed up eight water bottles, a can of almonds and our sparring gear and headed out to the dojo.  We walked the 1.5 miles there, drinking water and eating a protein bar along the way.  Got there in time for my karate class, which was loads of fun.  Sensei Shane set up seven kick bags as stations and set two of us at each one.  For each station he had us do a different style of kick, and he had a timer and would tell us when to start and stop.  I’m pretty sure he had us kick for 2 or 3 minutes at each station, but I don’t know for sure, all I know for sure was that it was one helluva good workout!!!  It was good times.  When my class was over it was time for sparring class.  My son and I share the same sparring class even though he isn’t yet in my teen/adult class for regular classes.  He’s a half brown/half black belt and will be testing for his black belt this October 25th.  I on the other hand am only a yellow belt.  This was my first sparring class and even though I’ve watched many sparring classes, I wasn’t sure how I was going to like it.  I mean…it always looked like great fun but looks can sometimes be deceiving, right?  So anyway, we all got plenty of turns sparring against each other but sensei said no sparring between family members.  BUT, at the end of class he said he’d saved the best for last and let me and Nick spar together.  He of course kicked my butt.  Heck, everyone kicked my butt that.  It seemed that all I felt comfortable doing was blocking my opponents attacks.  I did throw out some punches, kicks, and combos here and there but I really excelled at blocking.  I think I did pretty okay for my first time though, and really had a great time.  After sparring, we each drank down one of the water bottles and had a handful of almonds to “fuel” up and walked the 1.5 miles back home.  We stopped at the corner AM/PM and grabbed two hot dogs and two drinks and went to the park across the street to eat before heading home.  Yeah, normally that hot dog and soda would’ve been off limits to me, but after the three hour long workout we’d just had, I figured why the hell not, and enjoyed it 100% guilt free.  We enjoyed our lunch there at the park and then did a few katas to practice karate before heading home.  He’s got loads to practice before his black belt test in October, two new ones in particular, so I had him do those for me too.  Anyway, it was great times and was great bonding also.  We’re going to do this every time we have a sparring class, which is usually every Saturday morning except for the day after a testing Friday.  But, we aren’t having one next week due to one of the head honchos of the karate lineage we belong to coming in for a seminar.  I believe the following Saturday is the day after a testing Friday (my 7 year old son is testing for his green belt that day) so there won’t be a sparring class then either.  We will be there for the next one though!

Sunday was another good day.  Started out by going to church like normal.  The youth put on a really neat production set to the song by Casting Crowns titled, “Set me free”.  It was simply incredible.  There were about eight teens up there, all dressed in black.  One was in what looked like a KKK outfit, but it was all black…hood and all…he represented Satan.  There was a girl in the middle and she was surrounded by the one representing Satan and the others (his demons) who were in black pants and t-shirts and on their t-shirts each had a different word spray painted there that they represented.  There were greed, bitterness, lies, hatred…I forget what all but you get the idea.  It was dark with some red lights shining on them here and there and as the song started up the kids with the sayings on their shirts started grabbing at the girl in the middle and they had this big chain they wrapped around her.  Satan got in on it too and they were all wrestling with the girl back and forth, got her rolling around on the ground even.   When the song gets to the part that says, “Who is this man that comes my way?” a nice soft blue light shines on a man dressed in white robes with a gold sash, obviously representing Jesus, as he walks towards them on the stage.  The demons and Satan were doing their thing to the girl when Jesus’ hand flies out towards them and they all fell off of the girl, writhing on the floor.  Jesus helps the girl up and is talking with her when Satan grabs the chain and again ensnares the girl.  Jesus grabs the chain and begins playing tug of war with Satan and after a second of this he raises his hand towards Satan and Satan falls back onto the floor never to rise again.  It was incredibly powerful.  We of course gave all the kids a standing ovation and the cheers were through the roof.  They did such a good job.  During prayer afterwards I could hear so many sniffles going around.  We were moved to tears!  I did a youtube search and apparently there are quite a few other churches out there that did similar productions, but I thought ours was the best interpretation and am hoping that we get to get a copy of the video they made of it so that I can share it.  If we do, I’ll let you guys know cuz’ I’d love to share it with you all.  I’m going to post the lyrics to the song at the bottom of my blog here so you guys can read the words if you’re not familiar with the song.

This Friday, the 22nd, is our last weigh in for our 30 days “Biggest Loser” contest a the dojo.  Wow, how time flies.  Seriously fast.  I have such mixed feelings about the fast passing of time.  On the one hand the faster the better because it brings my husbands return ever closer.  But on the other hand, I am really enjoying life and want it to slow down!

Hope everyone is having a GREAT week!

Casting Crowns - Set me free

It hasn’t always been this way
I remember brighter days
Before the dark ones came
Stole my mind
Wrapped my soul in chains

Now I live among the dead
Fighting voices in my head
Hoping someone hears me crying in the night
And carries me away

Chorus:
Set me free of the chains holding me
Is anybody out there hearing me?
Set me free

Morning breaks another day
Finds me crying in the rain
All alone with my demons I am
Who is this man that comes my way?
The dark ones shriek
They scream His name
Is this the One they say will set the captives free?
Jesus, rescue me

Chorus

As the God man passes by
He looks straight through my eyes
The darkness cannot hide

Do you want to be free?
Lift your chains
I hold the key
All Power on Heaven and earth belong to me
(Repeat)

You are free
You are free
You are free